Gilberto was always a favourite of mine – the consumate professional, who never had a bad word to say about anyone, who was unfortunate to miss out on the permanent Arsenal captaincy.

He would have been a good representative for the club – but like the blogger who misses out on the job as CNN anchor, he’s busying himself with some de facto rep work in the Brazil squad, hitting up rumoured target Felipe Melo.

Good stuff, Gilberto – as if you could not be more popular a figure even while playing for Panathanaikos, now he’s tapping up juicy prospects on our behalf!

I know one cannot draw conclusions from Youtube clips that make players constantly look the best in the world – that is why I’ve done some homework and kept an eye on Melo during the Confederations Cup.

Watch the video below: and catch a glimpse of a player that can crawl out of tight spaces and always looks to pass forward – a perfect mentor for Denilson, even at Melo’s youngish age.

The Italian league is slower, giving players a little more time to think and respond to tackles, but his almost religious devotion to the probing pass reminds me of Xabi Alonso – a containing midfielder with an eye for the through-ball, tough tackling and able to dominate the centre circle.

Is Gilberto right in tapping up Melo for Arsenal’s sake? Morally, we on our high horse scream ‘no’ from the top of our ivory towers, but to the rest of us fans used to the horrible ways of the world, I would at least guess ‘yes, he damn well better.’

There is a lot of smoke coming from somewhere with this transfer rumour. It’s an exciting rumour as much as it is pragmatic. It would solve a problem position we have and provide both Alex Song and Denilson the perfect role model and competition required to excel.

Usmanov’s devious, evil plan

We move on to more darker news in the form of Alisher Usmanov and his insidious plan to sweep a majority stake in Arsenal from under the board’s feet.

His new ‘rights issue’ scheme is nothing more than a plan to get gullible Arsenal fans on his side with the promise of reducing debt/buying mega-signings, all the while moving into position to buy up an unforseen amount of shares to gain board-room power.

His offer to let fans buy up cheaper shares to gain greater ownership in their club is all cuddly-sentimental, but it leaves the board, including American Stan Kroenke, outside of the potential deal.

In a recession, only a negligible amount of fans will actually buy up Arsenal’s expensive shares (sure, they’ll be discounted, but still quite pricey all the same). Signed into the agreement is Usmanov’s ‘promise’ (what a lovely-sounding word) that he will in turn buy up any shares remaining to mop up what’s left and stock up Arsenal’s cash reserves.

All well and good, until we see his share total jump somewhere closer to 40 percent ownership. Perhaps even more.

Food for thought for the well publicised Manchester United fan.

Cana a Spuddie?

A quick note to mention AC Milan have put a ‘48-hour deadline’ on convincing Edin Dzeko to move from Wolfsburg. Failing that, speculation is mounting that Adebayor will be their new targetted player.

But now a small mention to another central midfielder, Lorik Cana, who has been linked enthusiastically to Arsenal before. Goonertalk discuss how Marseilles have revealed that the battleship midfielder could be moved on after sterling service to the Ligue 1 club.

Enter the We-Want-to-Be-Arsenal club, Tottenham Hotspur.

Reportedly, our little neighbours are quite keen on the midfielder (can you blame them?) and are looking to table a bid.

It will make for a spicy London Derby with him on their books, certainly, but if Wenger trusts other players more than a player in his personal scouting back yard, Ligue 1, I trust Wenger.

People slated Wenger for not ‘looking beyond the training ground’s fence’ when he did not sign Ashley Young from Watford, but the way the England winger faded so badly at the end of last year showed he wasn’t quite the fear-of-god player many paint him to be.

It also, in some ways, justifies Wenger’s eye for a player. He’s not a perfect manager, Wenger, but he’s a bloody awesome one.

Frankly, I would not have anybody else.

Filed under: Arsenal, Former Players, Tottenham, Transfer Rumours